Phytl Signs in the news

Wearable electronics reveal the secret lives of plants

Publication date: July 17 2018

Faint bioelectrical signals emitted by plants can be used to monitor their needs thanks to EU-funded researchers developing novel biosensors.

Plants may appear to do nothing, but in fact they are actively sensing and responding to a wide range of environmental stimuli such as light levels, temperature, gas concentrations, soil chemistry and humidity, the presence of insects or mammals and other conditions.

Many plants use transient electrical signals to control the speed of photosynthesis or respiration, the rate or direction of growth, the emission of chemicals as a defence against herbivores, and other physiological responses. Scientists have known about these signals for many years but they have not been practically applied because of difficulties in measuring them, as they are tiny relative to background electromagnetic interference.

The Horizon 2020 PhytlSigns project has achieved a breakthrough by creating a low-cost, real-time plant monitoring device based on bioelectrical signals. “PhytlSigns is the first ‘wearable’ for plants, harnessing electrical signals and translating them into digital form before visualising them for further analysis. By amplifying plant signals and reducing background noise researchers and growers can measure activity in response to changing conditions,” says project coordinator Carrol Plummer.

CTI funding for a study on plant electrophysiology

Publication date: December 20 2017

par Agroscope Conthey

Agroscope received the support of the Commission for Technology and Innovation CTI for the project on the electrophysiology of greenhouse plants together with three partner organizations. The basis for this was a promising preliminary study.

Cédric Camps of the group “greenhouse cultures” will carry out the study together with the Swiss startup Vivent , which produces innovative biosensors. Other contributors are Dr Marco Mazza of the University of Applied Sciences Freiburg HES Friborg and Dr Laura-Elena Raileanu of the HEIG-VD .

The four organizations will investigate plant physiology in this project by recording electrical signals from plants. For the interpretation of this data, high technology used in medicine for data acquisition and modeling will be used. The goals of the study are:

the development of a multi-channel electrophysiological receiver device,

its use for detecting electrical signals from greenhouse plants,

the evaluation of the data by means of suitable algorithms to characterize the stimuli of the plants,

the first concrete results of this innovative new tool for practical use with greenhouse crops (fertilization, pests, etc.)

Thanks to this project, Agroscope will gain valuable new knowledge in plant physiology, tackling one of the great challenges of specialty crops: managing a greenhouse culture in real time thanks to non-destructive monitoring.

UNITED STATES ARMY WANTS TO CREATE SPY-PLANT

The Pentagon is seeking to develop genetically modified plants that can identify threats. A French-speaking Swiss start-up is trying to join the project.

Easier to deploy than an armada of agents, more discreet than a police dog and more aesthetic than a portal of detection, the green plant could become a new key element to guarantee our safety.

This is at least what DARPA, the US agency for the development of new technologies for military use, provides. The entity, which depends on the Department of Defence, is at the origin of many inventions that have had a major impact worldwide such as the Internet, GPS and weather forecasts.

With its new plant-spying project, simply titled “Advanced Plant Technologies Program”, DARPA intends to modify the physiology of plants to make them capable of detecting chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear threats, as well as electromagnetic waves. The idea is to develop sensors sensitive to certain stimuli that can transmit these signals from a distance. “Plants can easily be installed everywhere, are widely used and do not require external power,” say the program’s initiators.

The Secrets of Trees – Le secret des arbres

Publication date: October 26 2017

Raphaële Schapira and Vincent Barral

They communicate, help each other, defend themselves, they even move! Trees have a real form of intelligence. And now it’s a scientific certainty. Trees occupy nearly a third of the land surface of the planet. Essential to our survival, they are also our best allies in the face of global warming. Yet we know almost nothing about them. Far from being frozen in their plant world, trees actually have a much richer life than we imagine. This is the thesis defended by a German forester whose book, The Secret Life of Trees (ed., The Arena) has become a worldwide success, translated into 32 languages. From thousand-year-old beech forests in Germany, to forest therapy centers in Japan, to INRA laboratories that study plant sensitivity, travel to the heart of the secret and fascinating universe of trees.

Тайная жизнь растений – The Secret Life of Plants

The leaves “scream”, the flowers “hear”, and the trees in the forest communicate through their own “Internet” – one only needs to know how to look into their secret life. This article in the widely read Russian magazine discusses plant communication and mentions Phytl Signs.

We are all chauvinists. Considering ourselves the pinnacle of evolution, we distribute all living things in a hierarchy in terms of the degree of closeness to ourselves. Plants are so unlike us that they seem to be not quite alive. No accounts are given to the Noah’s biblical account of their salvation on board the ark. Modern vegans do not consider it shameful to deprive them of their lives, and fighters against the exploitation of animals are not interested in “plant rights”. In fact, they do not have a nervous system, eyes and ears, they can not hit or run away. All this makes plants different – but not inferior. They do not lead the passive existence of a “vegetable”, but they feel the surrounding world and react to what is happening around. In the words of Professor Jack Schultz, “plants are just very slow animals.”

Read the full article including comments about Phytl Signs in Russia’s version of Popular Mechanics Elementy.ru

Read the full article including comments about Phytl Signs in Italia Fruit

ORIGIN OF SOUND TECHNOLOGY IN AGRICULTURE

Publication date: May 13 2017

Electromagnetic technology is based upon the fundamental physics concept that tiny particles, such as electrons and atoms, may also behave like waves. This has been known for almost a century, but early work in agriculture was largely neglected by agriculture research, possibly because of the quick success of technologies focusing on mineral fertilizers and chemical crop protection. However, promising experiments over the last decades have sparked a renewed interest in electromagnetics in plants and animals.

Read the full article including comments about Phytl Signs in Gaia Campus

7 Unexpected Swiss Start-Ups

Publication date: February 2 2017

Switzerland is home to a high-quality start-up environment. In line with the country’s long-standing and traditional strengths in engineering, biotechnology, medical technology and financial services, many Swiss start-ups within those sectors seek to develop creative solutions in the technology sector.

But of course, Swiss ingenuity, creativity and know-how are not limited to any industrial sector. Numerous aspiring entrepreneurs are also finding innovative solutions and offering efficient services in sectors not commonly associated with Switzerland, thereby highlighting the nature of a truly diverse and vibrant start-up environment. Here are seven examples: which is your favourite ‘unusual’ Swiss start-up?

The sharing economy sees people and organisations collaborating with their stakeholders to create and ‘rent out’ products and business models that are environmentally, socially and economically sustainable – Uber and AirBnB are often cited as the foremost examples.

The Growing Edge – This new device measures plants’ electric activity

By Cassie Neiden Publication date: October 2016

What happens when a team of engineers specializing in electronic signals takes an interest in plants? The result is Phytl Signs, a device that digitally processes plant electricity and converts those signals to a computer or mobile platform via Bluetooth in the form of a data set.

The product, an invention of the Switzerland-based technology company Vivent, utilizes a sensor that looks similar to the one that takes your pulse at the hospital. The sensor is attached to a single leaf of a plant’s foliage, and its purpose is to detect changes in the environment that the plant notices and reacts to in the form of electrical activity.

Phytl Signs Device: A Review

By Jane Perrone Publication date: 3 October 2016

How do you know whether a plant is thriving? If you look closely enough, often enough, there are plenty of signals: are the leaves droopy or firm? Is the soil bone dry or sopping wet? Are the flowers perky or falling? Is the plant deep green or fading to yellow? My plants may not be able to speak to me, but the more I spend time with a plant and get to know it, the more this simple semaphore is revealed to me.

When I got the chance to try out a new gadget called PhytlSigns (see what they did there?) I wasn’t sure what to expect. The catchline is “be a plant communication pioneer”. I am not an early adopter of technology: I was still carrying around a brick of a mobile when everyone else was using iPhones.

“Wearable” for plants to let you converse with a chrysanthemum

John Anderson | Gizmag | Publication date: 06 July 2016

Houseplants have never been known as great conversationalists, but it’s possible we just can’t hear what they’re saying. Swiss company, Vivent SARL, is hoping to rectify that with its Phytl Signs device that picks up the tiny electrical signals emitted by plants and broadcasts them through a speaker. The ultimate goal is to translate what the plants are actually “saying.”

Want to know what your plants are SAYING? Device lets you hear flowers talk by picking up the signals sent through their leaves

By Abigail Beall | Mailonline | Publication date: 01 July 2016

If someone told you they were listening to their plants talking to them, you might think they were mad.
But plants do give out tiny electrical signals, helping them communicate, they are just very faint and difficult to detect…

This Device Lets You Listen to What Your Plants are Saying

By Jamie A. | Techtree | Publication date: 01 July 2016

There’s a device that allows you to “listen” to what your plants are telling you.
PhytlSigns amplifies the electrical signals that plants emit, allowing people to hear them through a speaker attached to the device and see them through a mobile app…

Ever since I watched “The Apple Trees” in Wizard of Oz talking to Dorothy, I spent my entire childhood wondering would trees actually talk and what would they say if they could talk?

A Fitbit… for plants?

By Alexandra Sweny | WRLWND | Publication date: 01 July 2016

You’ve heard of wearables: watches that track activity levels, sheets that map sleep patterns, armbands that measure body temperature – and the list goes on. Now, a Swiss company is attempting to develop a wearable for plants. You heard right – plants….

Listen to what your plants are ‘saying’ through this device!

Plant listening device founder launches Kickstarter campaign

Matthew Appleby | Horticulture Week | Publication date: 30 June 2016

Plants emit electrical signals in response to their environment, and PhytlSigns amplifies these signals, allowing people to hear them though a speaker attached to the device and see them through an app on a phone or tablet…

SMF Nigel Wallbridge launches Kickstarter campaign for new technology that lets plants communicate with you

Sainsbury Management Fellows |Publication date: 30 June 2016

PhytlSigns – an innovative and unique piece of wearable tech for plants, is a plant monitor unlike any other – because it specifically listens in to what the plant itself is communicating rather than simply measuring the air temperature or the soil around it…